A shortage of senior doctors is putting the lives of emergency patients at risk in Sussex, it was claimed today.

Figures show under-staffing in casualty departments under the control of Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority.

Department of Health statistics show only 2.2 consultants per casualty unit in the region - well below the eight recommended by the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine (BAEM).

The figure is also below the bare minimum level of three demanded by the BAEM as a worst case scenario.

Worthing Hospital has a cover rate of 2.5 consultants at its A&E department and has another consultant on call.

A hospital spokesman said: "Obviously we would like to have more cover but we are able to cope."

There are five consultants covering both A&E departments at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs both hospitals, says in an ideal world it would have eight consultants but it is coping with the five and patients are not being put at risk.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Dr Evan Harris said: "The Government is obsessed with political targets and fiddling the figures but what really matters to patients is getting access to quality and safe care.

"That means having enough senior doctors. Many casualty departments are struggling with a shortage of senior doctors, well below the ideal numbers.

"Doctors who are available are often forced to distort their priorities to meet political targets.

"Junior doctors are forced to work without supervision. In some areas, the level of cover endangers patients' lives."